Friday, July 13, 2007

Ultimate Dorkitude! Engage!

Yesterday I participated in one of the most dorkifying activities possible: Mobius went on a Segway tour around downtown Chicago. That's right. 4 summer associates and 4 attorneys "glided" around Millennium Park for over an hour.

It was oodles and oodles of dorkirrific fun. And I had a blast. It's good to embrace the inner dork.
But first, we watched an incredibly graphic video about all the ways you could kill yourself and others on a segway. The video was mostly live actors, but when they wanted to show you something truly horrific, they would switch to a little cartoon man. Kinda like in Kill Bill. We watched a little cartoon man fall down a flight of stairs; we watched a cartoon man careen into traffic; we watched a cartoon man crack his head open on the sidewalk in about 6 different ways. Then it was time to ride our very own segways!

Here is me getting used to my segway - or potential vehicle of death.

I took to my segway very quickly, but tried not to get cocky. The cartoon man had broken every bone in his body when he got cocky. The group of us and our tour guides did a little practice gliding around a park, and then we headed off to see Chicago. It occurred to me as we started off that the video did not show you how to flee the mobs of cool kids that are sure to beat you up and take your lunch money for being seen on a segway.

On the Tour

Sometime along the way we passed a segway tour hosted by a different tour company. Their gliders were forced to wear bright orange safety vests in addition to the helmets. We called them geeks as we glided by.

All in all, it was a lovely day to glide around Chicago, and no one was mangled beyond recognition. We were all rewarded with farmer's tans and rubber legs when we were finally forced off of our segways back at headquarters. I assume the ensuing rubber legs is why segways haven't really caught on in America. Oh, that and the supreme dorkacy of it all. Anyway, if you ever have a spare day in Chicago, I recommend the segway tour. Just stay away from the company that makes you wear the hunting vests. It gives your position away to the cool kids.

Me and my segway. And some globe.

1 comment:

Quirky said...

Ohhh, your dorkitude looks like fun! I'm very jealous!